December Vlog update!

First vlog update to show y'all how Shorty is doing which he is going great! We're working on putting some healthy muscle on him so he can continue to stay strong and *fingers crossed* sound!!

His feet continue to be in great condition and he also gets post massage after each session focusing on his neck, back, and sacrum areas. I try to do a full body massage on him once a month even though it's getting harder to do that since I have many massage clients! I also try to incorporate the occasional session working on the bladder meridian points using the Masterson Method techniques which he responds really well to and it's also easy on me :)

Merry Christmas everyone!

Great things in Fall 2016!

I am happy to report that Shorty is doing fantastic. He has still been on Previcox, given time off, and just recently we began Osphos. Both of my vets had given me the suggestion for Osphos at different times, so I saved up and he got it at the beginning of October.

He has been super happy, shiny shiny coat, and feet are looking great. Look how round and how much bigger his hooves look in the first photo under "September"! He is sound and walking SO good! He's turning even better and normal than ever - the "careful" and small steps are not present at all. He doesn't shuffle and you can tell he is landing correctly flat/heel first.

I will be working on increasing his riding time back up to see what he is capable of. No matter what though, I am so glad I kept Shorty! He makes me so happy and I am glad to be his favorite person.

My chiropractor/vet will hopefully be able to see him this coming Monday to give her report about how he is doing.

August

September

November

Progressive Pics and a Video

Shorty's hooves the day in Jan. that the bar shoes got ripped off :((((((((

This is February:

March:

May (enough growth for shoes to go on mid-April)

End of 2nd cycle (June):

Today, beginning of 3rd cycle July 1st:

Video of movement June 15th:

Finally, remember when I had mentioned Shorty playing and rearing with his pasture mate?

:)))))))))

It's July in the South...100 degree weather is here

Edit: Oh I forgot to mention! Instead of doing the all inclusive vaccine dose that the vet usually does, I purchased the FluVac6 and West Nile separately. We gave the FluVac6 2 days ago and so far NO soreness or reaction to be seen! Will do the West Nile in a week or two and I'll be hoping for no reaction there either!

Nothing but improvement since my last post :) I have been really busy this last month so it has been fairly easy to give Shorty time off since that has been the plan. He has gotten a couple baths lately! He has not seemed lame at all ever since he has regained soundness with regular front shoes. We are now on the 3rd cycle of shoes and each time his feet look better and the shoes have to be widened. Ever since those bar shoes ripped off so much hoof wall back in January, he has just needed time to grow a new hoof and it's almost all grown out now. The farrier says there are no signs of him being foot sore at all that he notices, and he works on several who have issues.

I wonder what would have happened had I never gone on that trail ride and then I would have continued to think he was going to need bar shoes forever and that was that. I probably would have kept riding and trying to make it work. It's been quite a mess of a journey and I do feel awful that he had to ruin his hooves before coming to this point. It is hard to invest so much money to just let your only horse sit. Life definitely has its ways to slap you in the face. I do not know if I am silly for thinking Shorty may still have a future of being a using horse of some kind again, but I will say that I am cautiously optimistic. For now I continue to indulge in agility dog sports and take other riding and training opportunities that come my way while Shorty's biomechanics sort themselves out through time. I have a week long apprenticeship coming up with my favorite local horse trainer - can't wait!

I plan to ride Shorty tonight for a bit along with a friend. It'll be nice to get out and enjoy getting on my boy again. It has been almost 3 weeks!

I have pictures that I meant to upload, but for some reason I'm having issues with wifi on my desktop which is where the pics are. I'll try to remember to add them here later!

Improvement

It seems that with Previcoxx, 3.5 weeks of shoes, and time to lounge around, Shorty has improved! I have been doing some massage/bodywork occasionally now that I am a Certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist! I do think he benefits from it and I am so thankful I decided to learn.  He is turning around in a small circle like a normal horse again and stepping over normally in front. He no longer has a head bob when trotting and looks sound in both directions, however I still doubt the quality of movement and think we still have a ways to go for him to move absolutely comfortably and naturally. Still a bit short strided in front, and I have heard he looks a bit off trotting down the uneven, firm barn isle (matted). To picky eyes, he may be .5/5 or 1/5 on the lameness scale. I am relieved to at least be headed in the right direction. He was easily a 3/5 just a few short weeks ago.

When I do go back to riding him again, I will try and ride him just as he knew how when I got him. He did not know dressage at all and simply went well on a light hunter/jumper type contact. This time around though, he will have better seat cues!

I had my first agility trial last weekend where my dog and I received qualifying runs in both of the classes we entered and he did great! We will be able to earn a title once we get 3 qualifying runs at that venue. Working with him has been so fun! I do miss riding horses, though. I don't think anything can ever beat the magic of riding a horse.

I think it's 2015 again :(

I say this because Shorty has been off on the RF since mid-February. He's been out of work and almost getting worse as he sits. He's been lame at the trot and for a while was at least still playing, running, and bucking in the pasture (which his canter looked fine), but he is progressively getting more ouchy and especially when turning in tight circles. I can't say that I have seen him bolt off and play in anyway except for rearing (which is beautiful, he does it every morning with his pasture mate). He is definitely better with the soft rides than barefoot, but still not sound either way. I have asked my farrier about laminitis because that is the only thing that has come up in the past that would be something around this time of year, as it almost always is for him, and spring here began early with lots of rain = lots of fresh grass. However, even with all the dates and reasoning I have to support it, he says he would NOT think he has laminitis. His feet are in great shape right now even with the shoes being tossed in January. Both feet are looking excellent, but the RF is even better than the LF if there is a comparison. How does that work? Anyway, I am not the professional and it's not like I want him to be laminitic, but I'm just done with him being lame :( I want to know how to help him.

Since his feet are great and they grew a LOT, he was able to get shoes back on this past weekend (regular keg shoes). He was negative completely with hoof testers, but the farrier did notice he had some bruising on the bottoms of his hooves which is common for a horse after having shoes for a long time like he did and then not have shoes. The new shoes now might be putting constant pressure on the bruising causing him to be a bit more ouchy. I don't really see it with him walking in a straight line on the grass or pavement - he actually looks to be walking really nicely. It's when walking down the barn isle that is uneven ground and pivoting, oh man he looks so terribly ouchy when he has to be turned in a tighter circle to close a gate or something.

I tried Pentosan and while I thought he was still consistently improving, that has now come to a complete halt! He even had his check-up with the awesome vet chiropractor and is STILL lame. Time to back track AKA start over *hold on while I go cry*.

First step: shoes, check, Second: Previcoxx, as of tomorrow morning, check

I do hope to see him sound in the near future so we can at least begin again in the right direction. I know it was suggested that exercise would be best for him to strengthen his neck, but I think this time he is going to get 12 or so weeks of plain turnout. I would like to hand walk him during this time or maybe just ride him at a walk, but nothing else. I had pulled his shoes back in 2012 just a few months after owning him, and while he went lame the first time WITH shoes, I still have a hunch that it was a mistake to ever take them off. I wonder if we would have had issues again if I had not, because he was going well at the time. I'm going to try to give him time to just RE-set himself and see where that gets us.

Pray for him, pray for me. This is hard. I think if he becomes trail horse sound at this point that's all I can ask for. I haven't ridden a horse since the beginning of February!! Ahh!!

Not a Morning Person

Did I mention I am  NOT a morning person? Saying that I would love to wake up extra early to go to the barn and duct tape frog pads to my horse's hooves is one thing, doing it is completely another!

I did find a really soft 3/4" thick rubber foam tubing at Home Depot that works great for cutting pieces and using velcro to place inside the boots. It feels really nice and squishy; I placed it under his foot to check his opinion and he put all his weight on it and began licking and chewing - approved! The tubing comes in a 6ft section for $6.25. I figure I can get 14 pads cut from it, or less if I also use it for frog pads. He was walking correctly and heel first landings going in a straight line, but only the outside foot on a circle would land heel first while the inside one would land toe or flat first. Not sure if that's normal for a horse going around in a circle the length of a standard lead rope or not.

Today I picked out and scrubbed his feet with dish soap. I noticed some thrush in his back left hoof yesterday, so I decided all of his feet could benefit from a good cleaning and scrubbing. I use CutHeal Hoof Heal once or twice a week. It is not meant for thrush per say, but there are a lot of reviews out there that say it does manage it. I also have a travel bottle of mouthwash that I will pour over his hooves - it kills bacteria in our mouths and doesn't kill us, so it would be nice to think it does the same on his feet! I don't do the harsh chemicals that kill the bacteria and also the healthy tissue. The more natural the better!

Verdict on these Home Depot hoof pads and frog pads: Shorty tells me he feels good by tearing off galloping and bucking as soon as I let him go in the pasture. This is a good thing! This has never been a habit of his so I know he feels good. He looked pretty good cantering and running, but dropping down to a trot? LAME! Ugh! Down on the left front, which at least he is consistent! That means we're still looking at pain or just plain compensation happening on the right front/left hind diagonal. I am hoping it is something that chiro and accupuncture can get back on track. Shorty will have his next appointment in March coming up real soon.

It is the weekend now, and I can totally do all of this pad and velcro cutting on the weekend! During the week? Eh...snooze, snooze...Zzz..I just can't help it! The days of waking early on Christmas Day are gone for me.

Solution? Shorty will be getting his very own pair of SoftRide boots! Still easy to take on/off for me and the barn folks who care for him, and I will know his feet are getting everything he needs all the time. Right now it is dealing with which pads work, which pads last more than 2 days, which pads don't compress and flatten and then become useless after a couple hours? Hoof Pads on the market are expensive! The Softrides will pay for themselves in pads and time saved.

Besides, I have still not seen him move quite as awesome as he did with the Softrides. There is something about them that get him moving very well after just a short time of consistently wearing them. I still LOVE the Cavallo Treks and they are going to be perfect for riding. We'll just leave this 24/7 booting thing to the Softrides as they were made to be a 24/7 therapeutic boot which is what he needs right now.

You want to see that video again? Of course you do!

Boot Rehab

Shorty's feet look much better after getting trimmed up over a week ago, but they still have lots of growing to do! The Cavallo Trek boots are working out great and he will still have several millimeters to grow into as his foot widens. He has since been doing really well with wearing the boots all day while turned out. So well in fact, that my barn owner and I were curious if he would manage being turned out on his grassy area without them.... nope! Just a couple days later he was short stepping and ouchy. So back on the boots go!

The Thinline pads wore very quickly and lasted just over a week. I did ride him a couple of times which seemed to be very nice rides, but then he went sore in the middle of my latest ride so I have decided not to work him until I am sure his feet are ready. My farrier is going to provide our next pads so I don't have to pay for shipping everytime, so to get by I bought a .99cent piece of  6mm thick foam from the hobby store. This time, I bought adhesive velcro to put the pad inside the boot with - the Thinline pads rotated and moved around a bit which no doubt sped up the wear and tear. So far this has been working out great.

I still don't think he moves quite as well as I saw with the Softride boots, but I suspected from the beginning he might have liked the frog pressure that those provided. Tonight, I cut out some triangle frog-shaped foam pieces and duct taped them over his frogs and put the boots on. I got the idea from who else but Pete Ramey! Here: http://www.hoofrehab.com/bootarticle.htm

He says: "For instance the increased frog pressure pads will dampen vibration and start to allow the horse to work the back of the foot, often for the first time in many years. As with any other weak, living thing we start to exercise, we can overdo it and create soreness. Don’t be discouraged; change your system. Usually switching to a softer or thinner frog pad, or switching back to a flat insole will “rest” the back of the foot while the horse stays comfortable for riding."

That's exactly what Shorty needs is to begin fully utilizing the back of his foot again! I think this is going to be an important part of rehabilitating those feet faster. I have also been a bit concerned lately about the feel of his tendons below the knees not being as tight as I know they usually are. Tonight after I put the frog pads and boots on, I walked him around, let him graze, trotted him a few times over about a 25 minute timespan , and he seemed to do increasingly better! Each time I asked him to trot he would over willingly leap forward as if he would like to take off, but didn't. He definitely looked sound and comfy, snorting several times as we walked, licking and chewing, and I believe more bright eyed and bushy tailed by the end. It hard to tell how he was landing since it was dark, but he was overreaching (touching the boots from behind) at a walk consistently especially when he had his head lowered and he began really, really marching forward in a nice walk as we went. I took the boots off in the barn isle and he walked back to his stall without the boots with no signs of soreness and his legs felt tighter. Wow, complete 180 from how he walked out of his stall just 30 minutes earlier!

Well....I guess I am going out every morning I can to duct tape frog pads on him! I would glue them to the pads, but I want to make sure the frog pads stay right over his frogs for maximum comfort! If the pads or his foot rotate at all, it won't work right. I can't wait to see what his feet look like in 2 months, 6 months, and then a year from now! I think they are going to be completely different.

Hoof Boot Miracle!

My super compassionate and awesome barn owner allowed Shorty to wear a pair of Soft Ride boots the past couple weeks https://www.softrideboots.com/. He was turned out in these until we could find our own boots to use. Lo and behold, he felt fantastic in these boots! Who knew! He trotted with them in the pasture, down the barn isle, and moved and turned like a pro across concrete and rocks. I got a video of him going in the pasture one day and guess what! He was not only moving correctly heel first, but he was tracking up more from behind and trotting exactly how I have been wanting him to all this time! The video includes the slow motion where you can see his toes flip out and land after his heels, especially when he begins moving more forward after the first 10 seconds. He also moves more round and totally comfortable!

I was soo excited to see this, and I was now even more excited to find our own boots. After a lot of research, reviews, and talking to the Cavallo rep, I decided on the Cavallo Trek boots. https://www.cavallo-inc.com/?products=trek-hoof-boots
His hoof length measured at 120mm and width at 114mm, so I confirmed with the Cavallo rep that he would probably be a size 2 Slim. I ordered them last Sunday and received them Thursday. My farrier was out on Friday morning and he checked fit and also cut the Thinline pads I bought to put at the bottom. I knew that the Soft Ride boots were providing him a lot of additional padding, and Thinline material is known to be very good at absorbing shock and providing therapeutic support. The boots ended up being a great fit and Shorty also got his feet trimmed up in more of a barefoot trim. As soon as I let Shorty go in the pasture with his new boots on, he took off galloping to the hay that was out. I think he likes them!

He has been trotting into the barn for dinner and really looking nice and comfortable. Tonight was our first ride in them and it went great! Luckily, I had a knowledgeable friend to ride with tonight who kept telling me how comfortable he looked and how nicely he was moving. He continued to track up more from behind than before. He was super responsive and easy to go forward, almost too exuberant at times!

We are definitely going to run with this success that we have found! I have always believed that everything happens for a reason. If we had never gone on that trail ride and lost those shoes, we would never have taken this path! We saw good days with bar shoes, pads, wedges, injections, etc., but besides that one day where Shorty showed of his incredible floaty, knee snapping trot about 2 years ago shortly after getting bar shoes, he just has not done anything like that again and I had yet to be satisfied with the way he was moving. Everyone please cross your fingers and think good thoughts for long term improvement. We do expect him to be able to live out just fine barefoot after another cycle or so while he transitions. At that point, we'll just boot up to ride. It's possible that after this "rehab," he will probably be able to handle some arena work and dressage shows without them again.

I just gave Shorty his monthly dose of Pentosan as well. He seems to be a very happy boy right now. What an adventure!

First Trail Ride in a LONG Time!

Shorty and I were invited on a trail ride yesterday. We had a blast! First trail ride out like that in at least a couple years. It was pretty rough because we went to somebody's land so it wasn't nice cut out trail paths. We went up and down hills and over and through ditches, through thick brush and ducking and pushing tree limbs out of the way. He even cantered up a hill and jumped a small fallen tree. That was awesome! He spooked pretty good at a deer lookout building, but other than that he was solid. He wanted to GO and I mean when he trotted forward, I haven't felt that kind of trot in a long time. So much ENERGY and interest. Unfortunately we had many moments when he wanted to trot forward and then he would NOT stop and completely ignore my bit. In circles we went...

At the end of the ride on the gravel path to the trailers, I noticed he was really tip toeing it :( I thought his back feet were sore, but I thought it odd that he would be THAT ouchy with his back feet. I got off as soon as we got close and I looked down to find out that BOTH front bar shoes were gone! Ugh! My poor boy. I am pretty sure it happened towards the end of the ride, but it's hard to tell because we were on soft ground most of the time. He is a trooper! He did have bell boots on, but I'm not surprised with all the stuff we did that he somehow managed to still get under them and pull the shoes. We borrowed a pair of hoof boots for the ride back home (they were a tad big but they served their purpose), and now he is turned out in a pair of soft ride boots that he seems to be very comfy in (also borrowed). I have already been wanting to buy a pair of boots for his back feet for trail rides instead of putting shoes in the back, so now I'm just going to get boots for the front, too.

I feel so bad because some of his hoof wall got messed up when the shoe came off his left hoof. He JUST got trimmed and those shoes put on a little over a week ago. He's going to go with boots only for now so we get more growth and make sure his feet will be in good condition before putting another pair of shoes on. This week will be dedicated to finding a pair of boots that will fit and be suitable for what we need.

Vaccination Woes

I feel like a bit of a horrible owner, but it seems every time I have had Shorty vaccinated, I have never noticed any ill effects except for the rabies he got early last year. After the rabies shot, his neck swelled up in a huge lump and Shorty was SO sore that he wouldn't even eat off the ground for a couple days. I have never seen that before with one of my own horses, but now I know that some horses just get really sore after some vaccines. The vet was out on Friday morning when I was there for the farrier and he was due for just a couple of his annual vaccinations (not rabies, so it didn't occur to me) so I asked her to go ahead and get those done. Well, I didn't realize it Friday or Saturday, probably because Shorty is a saint, but on Sunday I went to do his treat stretches that we always normally do after our workouts (except for Fri/Sat of course) and the poor boy would barely turn his neck! I'm a bit relieved because if he looks stiff in those videos I took on Saturday, that is probably quite a big factor as to why.

He was better today, but still not 100%. I am really looking forward to getting going again with our workouts once his neck is not sore.

Movement Videos

These videos are from yesterday. The general consensus is that he still looks slightly off/uneven, but it is slight and can and probably will be better. My fingers are crossed! I wish I had videos of him going before we tried transitioning to regular shoes to compare. He sure did feel like he was doing really really well, which is why I was hoping he could go without the extra support. Ya never know unless you try.

Two Steps Back, One Step Forward

Unfortunately, I saw a pretty clear decline fairly quickly this week while waiting for the farrier appointment that was planned for today (Friday). I didn't want to work him this week just because knowing that he wasn't moving correctly (tending to go toe first instead of flat or heel first) bothered me a lot. All I did was walk him and trot him some in hand. Last night I was curious how he was trotting because I thought I was seeing some discomfort in his other movements on uneven ground and turning around. I lunged him at the walk and trot and oh man was he shuffle-y - it's like we were back to square one and he didn't want to pick up his feet at all! *sob* :'(

I could not WAIT until this morning to get the bar shoes back on. He definitely prefers them right now. He wasn't PERFECT tonight, but he felt nice under saddle walking and trotting. I tried a canter to the left and he did try for me, but it didn't feel quite right so I asked him to trot again and left it at that. I watched him walk and trot from the ground once he was warmed up and it was considerably better than last night. There were not puffs of dirt with every stride, just occasionally. He was definitely moving out more and picking up his feet more. I suppose it's not a miracle fix, and it'll probably take a couple or maybe a few days for his soreness to cool off just like it did to develop with the other shoes. Tonight, he got tucked in with his favorite fruit flavored treats and some packing of magic cushion to help relieve any discomfort he might still have.

Just some details that I want to remember if helpful later on: the farrier mentioned that his right front hoof seemed to be growing more than the left. He had to trim that one a bit more than the other. The heel of the right hoof had grown down more, which from what he explained might be because he was avoiding using that heel. I thought that was interesting since it seemed to be his left front giving him the most trouble and landing heaviest on the toe. But from all this I know that not everything is as it seems - a lot of times the answers are the opposite of what the obvious is.

6 Month Update

I know it has been a while, but I do have a good update and we seem to still be on the right track.

Shorty has done well since November. We have started trotted more and integrating 3-4 trot poles in our exercise. We work on shoulder fore/shoulder in, side passing, turn on the haunches, and transitions. The only thing I have noticed developing since then was resistance bending to the right. On Dec. 26th, we decided to try regular shoes! It did not seem to change anything for a while. About 6 days later, however, Shorty had a day where he was acting really on edge, spooky, and unfocused. I knew something was not right. I did some ground work instead of riding since he was acting so funny, and he eventually showed me he looked sore and really hesitant to go forward. I haven't seen that in a while :(

He was due for his monthly dose of Pentosan, so I gave that to him that day. I have also added 10,000mg of MSM to his feed daily since then. I think both have been helping him. The next day he seemed okay again, thank goodness! Then our next ride was surprisingly really nice. I lunged him first walk/canter and I was concerned about him going to the left as it looked like there was a hitch in his stride at the canter. But when I got on we had a super ride! Besides his resistance to bend right, he was super light and offering roundness, stretchy trot, responsiveness, and he was even offering halt to canter transitions! He felt amazing. That was a fun ride.

Even so, I planned to have the vet out for a check-up to see about his right side. This was the best check-up so far. Shorty did not need acupuncture! There was no hock reactivity this time, but there was with his left front. She was able to adjust the spot on the right side of his neck that was most likely the culprit for his hesitation to bend right - he looked really ouchy there before fixed, poor boy. Most of his issues though were located in the thoracic/wither area under the saddle. He had some wither stuff last time, but not that much soreness under his saddle area. The 3 things that would contribute to that spot are: 1) ulcer/stomach issues which were ruled out, 2) saddle fit, which we checked and ruled out, and 3) compensation for some foot pain. Oh boy...I am going to have my farrier check the balance of his feet next week, and then if that checks out then we will put his bar shoes back on. Unfortunately, the vet noticed that he was very slightly walking toe first in the front. My main goal right now is to make sure we fix that and get a heel first landing; if he needs the bar shoes to continue supporting his neck and keeping him right, then that's what we'll stick with for now.

Shorty has changed so much since August which is a good thing! He continues to change and hopefully his body is normalizing to how it should be. The fact that he didn't need acupuncture is great! I was happy about no hock reactivity and the issues in his back end have stayed away - I have always thought that part of his issues have been from compensation from back there.

It rained quite a bit this last week and it has been so wet! I am going to go out again this afternoon and see how he's doing! I hope to ride :)